Baby, the Stars Shine Brite
The secret life of a girl.the strange confessions and dirty little secrets of a girl.
15.7.06
Howell Oks mandatory drug testing
Francis Howell High School students who play sports, participate in after-school clubs or park on campus will be required to submit to random drug tests this fall.
The Board of Education voted 5-1 to approve the program Thursday night, making Francis Howell the first school district in the St. Louis area to establish mandatory drug testing. Fort Zumwalt has a voluntary drug-testing program.
The Francis Howell program will annually test approximately 800 high school students, 20 percent of the total students participating in extracurricular activities or holding campus-parking permits.
Parents of middle school students will have the option of enrolling their children in a voluntary drug-testing program that is expected to test about 700 students per year.
Each week, randomly selected students would be asked to produce a urine specimen. A third-party laboratory will test the urine for the presence of marijuana, opiates, cocaine, methamphetamines, anabolic steroids, benzodiazepine and Ecstasy.
With member Bill Spencer absent, the school board voted 6-0 to contract Clinical Collection Management to administer the drug-testing program. The Webster Groves-based company, selected from five applicants, also administers Fort Zumwalt's voluntary program.
Bridgeway Counseling Services will provide free drug counseling for students who test positive. The St. Charles-based organization is funded through the sales tax-supported Children and Family Services Authority of St. Charles County.
Jim Joyce, district communications director, said the program will give students a reason to say no when peers offer them drugs. By detecting drug use early, the program should prevent students from facing harsher consequences later on, Joyce said.
"This is not a punitive program," he said. "No student will miss a day in class because of this program. There are no academic consequences. It does not involve the police." ...
The article goes on, I just had to interject here the first of the BIG lies I saw.
What could they possibly mean "no academic consequences" when in fact, there ARE academic consequences. If a student does now at this time or any time in the past fail a drug test they are likely to have all federal student financial aid withdrawn. Not to mention many universities have followed the government's lead and adopted similar policies. So maybe a Francis Howell highschool or junior high school isn't going to do anything but drug test them again and again ... There are academic consequences. Frankly, I think this is much more of a sever one than my highschool won't let me be on the football team - which parents protest because that's how little Johnny is getting into college.
However - small things aside is it only my opinion that drug testing randomly nearly every highschool student is a HUGE invasion of privacy? When I was in highschool I remember there was a big debate on if a highschool could indeed look in a student's locker without them present and consenting. Later, it was decided that no they indeed could not - but at the same time, students would face punishment for whatever as if they were guilty of what they were charged with if they refused to have their locker or bag searched. What happened to that? Granted, I went to school in a different district...
The biggest problem with this practice lies in the damage this kind of invasion does to thoughts. Now we will have a generation of Americans that think that their EVERY MOVE can and will be used against them and monitored. I shouldn't need to remind anyone that this is something many people protest - afterall, when the government taps innocent citizen's phones people are upset but drug testing is doing the *exact* same kind of thing. Only monitoring not what you are saying but what you are putting into your body: which I'm sorry, but is your business and yours alone. Actually - it's your business and your business alone pregnant or not. Sorry Arkansas! These practices are, I think, exactly the same as the bills that want to make it a crime for a woman to smoke while pregnant. If in this case, when it is so obviously affecting another life (and I am NOT supporting this bill, I wholly support that it is indeed each woman's business) an invasion of privacy when what is put into a human body is monitored how is this any different for our teenagers? Secondly, I would like to remind every parent of a teenager I am not too far off from being a teenager: and I will admit I have and occasionally do use drugs.
I am on the dean's list at my university.
I am articulate and respectful - as well as witty and sarcastic and motivated.
I have hobbies and a life and real relationships.
I graduated in highschool at the top 5% of my class.
I've had my writing published, sold art in galleries as well as help run an art gallery, participated in various art festivals, and even given some talks on various subjects the peak my interest enough to put in the necessary hours of research and devotion to be considered an expert.
Drugs did not, and I shall refuse to let them because of various invasive laws, ruin my life.
I cannot express in words how disappointed in the school system and this community I am for allowing this to happen to their children.
Francis Howell High School students who play sports, participate in after-school clubs or park on campus will be required to submit to random drug tests this fall.
The Board of Education voted 5-1 to approve the program Thursday night, making Francis Howell the first school district in the St. Louis area to establish mandatory drug testing. Fort Zumwalt has a voluntary drug-testing program.
The Francis Howell program will annually test approximately 800 high school students, 20 percent of the total students participating in extracurricular activities or holding campus-parking permits.
Parents of middle school students will have the option of enrolling their children in a voluntary drug-testing program that is expected to test about 700 students per year.
Each week, randomly selected students would be asked to produce a urine specimen. A third-party laboratory will test the urine for the presence of marijuana, opiates, cocaine, methamphetamines, anabolic steroids, benzodiazepine and Ecstasy.
With member Bill Spencer absent, the school board voted 6-0 to contract Clinical Collection Management to administer the drug-testing program. The Webster Groves-based company, selected from five applicants, also administers Fort Zumwalt's voluntary program.
Bridgeway Counseling Services will provide free drug counseling for students who test positive. The St. Charles-based organization is funded through the sales tax-supported Children and Family Services Authority of St. Charles County.
Jim Joyce, district communications director, said the program will give students a reason to say no when peers offer them drugs. By detecting drug use early, the program should prevent students from facing harsher consequences later on, Joyce said.
"This is not a punitive program," he said. "No student will miss a day in class because of this program. There are no academic consequences. It does not involve the police." ...
The article goes on, I just had to interject here the first of the BIG lies I saw.
What could they possibly mean "no academic consequences" when in fact, there ARE academic consequences. If a student does now at this time or any time in the past fail a drug test they are likely to have all federal student financial aid withdrawn. Not to mention many universities have followed the government's lead and adopted similar policies. So maybe a Francis Howell highschool or junior high school isn't going to do anything but drug test them again and again ... There are academic consequences. Frankly, I think this is much more of a sever one than my highschool won't let me be on the football team - which parents protest because that's how little Johnny is getting into college.
However - small things aside is it only my opinion that drug testing randomly nearly every highschool student is a HUGE invasion of privacy? When I was in highschool I remember there was a big debate on if a highschool could indeed look in a student's locker without them present and consenting. Later, it was decided that no they indeed could not - but at the same time, students would face punishment for whatever as if they were guilty of what they were charged with if they refused to have their locker or bag searched. What happened to that? Granted, I went to school in a different district...
The biggest problem with this practice lies in the damage this kind of invasion does to thoughts. Now we will have a generation of Americans that think that their EVERY MOVE can and will be used against them and monitored. I shouldn't need to remind anyone that this is something many people protest - afterall, when the government taps innocent citizen's phones people are upset but drug testing is doing the *exact* same kind of thing. Only monitoring not what you are saying but what you are putting into your body: which I'm sorry, but is your business and yours alone. Actually - it's your business and your business alone pregnant or not. Sorry Arkansas! These practices are, I think, exactly the same as the bills that want to make it a crime for a woman to smoke while pregnant. If in this case, when it is so obviously affecting another life (and I am NOT supporting this bill, I wholly support that it is indeed each woman's business) an invasion of privacy when what is put into a human body is monitored how is this any different for our teenagers? Secondly, I would like to remind every parent of a teenager I am not too far off from being a teenager: and I will admit I have and occasionally do use drugs.
I am on the dean's list at my university.
I am articulate and respectful - as well as witty and sarcastic and motivated.
I have hobbies and a life and real relationships.
I graduated in highschool at the top 5% of my class.
I've had my writing published, sold art in galleries as well as help run an art gallery, participated in various art festivals, and even given some talks on various subjects the peak my interest enough to put in the necessary hours of research and devotion to be considered an expert.
Drugs did not, and I shall refuse to let them because of various invasive laws, ruin my life.
I cannot express in words how disappointed in the school system and this community I am for allowing this to happen to their children.
